The building at 3424 Wooddale Ave. was built in 1958 for the Ibberson Co. Our thanks to past president Mr. Walt Hanson for the information on this company that was in the Park for 34 years.
The T.E. Ibberson Corp. was started in 1881 by the Norwegian Ibberson family, and the first three presidents were members of that family. The company recruited men from Norway to work at the firm. It was located at various buildings in downtown Minneapolis, including the Corn Exchange Building and the Flour Exchange Building. Until the 1960s, the company built grain elevators, following railroad lines through Minnesota and the Dakotas.
In more modern times, the company designs and builds grain processing plants, including pet food factories, port facilities, feed mills, and flour mills. One of their projects was an Oreo cookie plant.
The company has become a worldwide construction contractor, with projects such as bridges in China, Russia, South America, and many more countries.
Walt Hanson started with the company in 1958 as a draftsman. The company moved into its new building in St. Louis Park on Halloween of that year, and Mr. Hanson remembers that the glass had not yet been installed, so a watchman had to guard it all night to see against mischief.
In 1979, the company bought the adjacent old post office building that Ed Christy had built on the block in 1952. Ibberson built a connection between the buildings, making them into one. The company also bought the Christy gas station at Lake and Wooddale. In 1983, Mr. Hanson became a major owner and the fifth president of the company. He retired in 2000.
The company moved to Hopkins in 1996.